University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
21-7, 5-4
App State
13-13, 3-6
Baseball Captures 13-4 Sunday Affair to Win Series over App State
3/29/2026 4:45:00 PM | Baseball
The Golden Eagles (21-7 overall, 5-4 Sun Belt) snapped a three-game streak of not hitting a home run with three long balls in the contest – its longest string since the Marshall series, April 4-5, 2025 – while the Mountaineers fell to 13-13 and 3-6.
The big homer was the grand slam by Urban, which capped a six-run second inning to start the game's scoring. Davis Gillespie and Matthew Russo started things with consecutive doubles, the second one driving in the game's first run. After an out and a walk, Eubanks lined a pitch into left to drive in his first run to make the score 2-0.
Seth Smith then added a walk, before Urban launched his eighth homer of the year to left, marking the third grand slam for the Golden Eagles this season.
After App State cut the lead in half with three runs on a Tank Yaghoubi sacrifice fly, an RBI single from Riley Luft and a run-scoring double from Ethan Puig, the Golden Eagles added to their lead in the bottom half of the frame. With one out, two Golden Eagles were hit by a pitch and another walked, before Eubanks knocked in a couple more with a two-run single.
The Mountaineers cut the gap to 8-4 on a bases-loaded walk to Yaghoubi, but that was the final time they would score in the affair.
A sacrifice fly in the fifth following by an RBI double from Smith increased the lead to 10-4.
Kyle Morrison then hit a solo home run in the sixth to right and a two-run blast to left center in the eighth to complete the scoring. Morrison now has a season-best 10 home runs for the Golden Eagles.
JW Armistead, who came in relief of Thomas Crabtree in the third, got a pair of outs, while allowing a run on a hit to earn the victory and improve to 1-0 on the year. Colby Allen went three scoreless innings and added a season-best seven strikeouts, before scoreless outings from Josh Och, Drake Meeks and Bruce Littleton.
App State starter Conner Barozzino allowed three runs on two hits with a walk and a strikeout over 1 1/3 innings to suffer the loss and fall to 0-2.
The Golden Eagles finish a four-game homestand Tuesday when they entertain Southeastern Louisiana. Game time is set for 6 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Armistead, JW (1-0)
L: Barozzino, Conner (0-2)
Batting:
2B: Puig, Ethan 1
RBI: Puig, Ethan 1 ; Luft, Riley 1 ; Yaghoubi, Tank 2
SF: Yaghoubi, Tank 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Mummau, Jake 1 ; Evans, Charlie 1 ; Luft, Riley 1 ; Walker, Tommy 1
HBP: Smith, Steven 1 ; Walker, Tommy 1
Batting:
2B: Russo, Matthew 2 ; Gillespie, Davis 1 ; Smith, Seth 1
HR: Urban, Joey 1 ; Morrison, Kyle 2
RBI: Urban, Joey 4 ; Russo, Matthew 1 ; Odom, Lawson 1 ; Smith, Seth 1 ; Eubanks, Gray 3 ; Morrison, Kyle 3
SF: Odom, Lawson 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Urban, Joey 2 ; Higdon, Ben 1 ; Russo, Matthew 2 ; Barrett, Drey 2 ; Gillespie, Davis 1 ; Smith, Seth 1 ; Eubanks, Gray 2 ; Morrison, Kyle 2
HBP: Higdon, Ben 1 ; Russo, Matthew 1 ; Smith, Seth 1
